


you had me at hello

by Professor_David



Category: The Maze Runner (2014), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: I love Chuck, M/M, Thomas is a lil bit awkward, also I'm really sorry that I named the dog as Chuck, and Newt is flirty, it just suited him so well omg, just like I imagine them to be tbh so I'm not even sorry, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-17 04:34:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3515525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Professor_David/pseuds/Professor_David
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As long as he could remember himself, Thomas was always really fond of animals. Especially dogs. </p>
<p>Not that he ever had a chance to have one though. </p>
<p>There was always something getting in the way: at first it was his parents, then, when the boy got older and was able to enter the university, finally moving out to another city - the rules of living in a dormitory. Sometimes it seemed like the whole world didn't want Thomas to have his own little four-legged friend.</p>
<p>So when one day Minho, his one and only best friend, asked him to look after his and Teresa's precious Chucky, while they were gonna be away visiting Minho's family, Thomas was more than happy to agree. After all it couldn't be this hard, right?</p>
<p>... Right?</p>
<p>(based on the prompt: "I guess our dogs really like each other.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	you had me at hello

_If you don't own a dog, at least one, there is not necessarily anything wrong with you, but there may be something wrong with your life. -_ _Roger A. Caras_

_~*~_

As long as he could remember himself, Thomas was always really fond of dogs, but never in his entire life had he had a chance to have one. He still remembered it, his childhood, how he was crying his eyes out, shouting, begging his parents to let him have one single puppy. He promised them, swore to them to be a good little boy, to get only good marks at school, always listen to them, never disappointing. But they didn’t want to hear any of it. 

“We’ll think about it later, Thomas,” his mother always told him in a calm, somewhat cold, voice. She never even turned to look at him as she said it, never stopping doing her own things, never really bothering. Only now, when little Tommy turned into a twenty years old Thomas, only now, looking back then, he could understand that his parents were working hard to get money, but it didn’t help this childish hurt lurking somewhere deep inside him. 

‘ _Silly childish desires_ ,’ that was how his father related to them. ‘ _Someday you’ll grow out of them, boy_ ,’ the man kept repeating him every time Thomas raised the question, every time his father was hiding behind a newspaper, depicting a deep interest in this piece of paper, what always made Thomas only angrier. 

Finally, when the boy became older and was able to enter the university, he packed his things and waved his hands goodbye, immediately moving to another city and starting a new life, living in a dormitory. As it turned out later it wasn’t the best of his ideas: his neighbors were noisy, often throwing parties that lasted almost until the morning; the guy – George – that he shared his room with was almost always silent, somewhat secretive, even eccentric, so it was very difficult for Thomas to find a common language with him; even the room wasn’t in the best stage - the wallpaper peeled off in some places and in general it needed some upgrade. But it was still better than home. He finally truly felt free. 

Unfortunately, as Thomas found out it later, the rules of living in a dormitory refused any kind of animals; even something little and innocent like a hamster or – _good Lord_ – a goldfish was forbidden. And even if the rules he could somehow still try to avoid, to hide a dog, even a very small and quiet one, from a roommate, who was allergic to dogs…It was simply impossible. 

Sometimes it seemed like the whole world didn't want Thomas to have his own little four-legged friend. 

So when one day Minho, his one and only best friend, asked him to look after his and Teresa's precious Chucky, while they were gonna be away visiting Minho's family, Thomas was more than happy to agree. 

Of course, as they expected it to be, Teresa was not really pleased with this idea at first, saying that Thomas didn't have any experience to look after something living and breathing, when sometimes he couldn't even properly look after himself. But after several days of Minho's attempts to persuade her and Thomas constant pleading and moping and just not-ending _'please, Teresa, please'_ , the girl finally gave up and agreed ("Pray to God, Thomas, that I won't regret this decision.") 

The boy was on cloud nine. He visited Minho early in the morning, just a few minutes before the taxi came up to his friend’s house. It was unusual for him to get up this early willingly, but excitement pumped through his veins so quickly that it was impossible for him to stay still, let alone fall asleep; he was restless, turning all night from side to side and impatiently looking at his phone every few minutes. Thomas just couldn't believe that finally, after all these _years_ of pleading and whining and blaming everything on his stupid, miserable life, he was going to have a real breathing, eating, _living_ something, _a dog_ , that you should actually watch after. Well, maybe not fully his own and maybe not for _this_ long, but still, who cared? Definitely not Thomas. The boy didn't even try to hide his excitement. 

It wasn’t that surprising for him when Teresa decided to read him a whole lecture about what he should and should _not_ do to poor little Chuck, apparently still not fully believing in Thomas’ ability to look after someone. He wasn’t complaining though, to be honest, he expected her to do something like this. The boy didn't even dare to interrupt her, even though he already knew everything she was talking about.  

When Teresa turned to look at her boyfriend, apparently expecting some words from him as well, Minho being, well, Minho, rolled his eyes and said: "Just try not to kill him while we're away, okay?", which made Thomas snort and Teresa just shook her head, trying to look annoyed but still there was a tiny smile playing on her lips. 

The taxi was going be by their house by 11:00 so when it finally came, Minho solemnly handed him Chuck’s leash and said: 

“Don’t worry, Thomas, I believe in you,” his voice was calm and confident; his face blank, but there was a mischievous twinkle in his dark chocolate eyes and a small teasing smile on his lips. “But if you fuck up, you know I will find you. I know where you live.” 

Thomas laughed, softly pushing him toward the car as Teresa once again rolled her eyes at them. 

“I can’t believe I let you drag me into this,” she said it to Minho, but it looked more like the girl mumbled it to herself, before getting in the backseat of the car. After a moment the Asian was beside her and both of them waved their hands with enthusiasm, as the driver finally stepped on the gas and drove them away. 

Thomas smiled happily and looked down at the dog, obediently sitting next to him with its mouth open. Chuck was a small dog that always reminded him somewhat of a fox with his wool being a bright, golden color and all the white markings on his muzzle, chest and paws. Just like most of the dogs he was energetic and playful, always kind to others. He basically loved everyone and everyone, in return, loved him. 

Thomas bent down to him and gently patted his fur. 

“Well, buddy,” he said with a wide smile, “it looks like there’s only you and me. Oh, believe me, we’re gonna have so much fun!” The dog only barked in response. 

 ~*~

Everything was amazing. _Thomas_ felt amazing. 

The brunet obediently followed all the instructions that Teresa gave him: he fed him, played with him, didn’t let Chuck scrunch any furniture. Chuck allowed him to scratch behind his ear and even cuddle with him while they were laying on the couch and watching a movie. He didn’t understand why his friends were always complaining so much about this little buddy? He was absolutely awesome! Seriously, what was so hard? Thomas snorted. 

By the time the clock showed six o’clock in the evening, Chuck began to whine softly, which made it clear to Thomas that it was a time to walk him. 

Still a little unwillingly, Thomas stood up from the couch and stretched lazily. After spending a few minutes trying to find a leash and a collar (Thomas took them off right after Teresa and Minho left) and another minute to put them on Chuck, at the same time trying to give himself a decent look by smoothing his clothes and hair, finally they both were ready to leave.  
  
Thomas quickly went out, immediately deeply inhaling. The street was pleasantly cool for summer evening; the air didn’t choke - it was only refreshing. There were a lot of people on the streets: some of them were spending time with their friends, enjoying the holidays, some were returning home from their work. Thomas smiled, locking the door.  
  
Tightly gripping the leash, the boy turned around and headed toward the park that was just a few blocks away from his friend's house. The park was nothing special, really. Same old trees, same old stone walkways that were already worn by the time, same little lake, where always was agiotage represented by children and their parents. The park was old, a little too noisy for Thomas’ liking, always full of screaming and running kids. But it was just in a few minutes from Minho’s house and they always went there because Chuck really liked the place so it wasn’t that surprising that the boy picked it. 

The closer Thomas was getting to the park, the louder it became, filling his eyes with children’s screams of joy and other dogs’ barking. Chuck also barked in response as if telling ‘ _hey guys I’m here!_ ’ and Thomas smirked. 

“Calling for your friends, buddy?” he asked with a light smile as they both walked through the gates, entering the park. 

If being honest, Thomas really expected to see a lot of people there. After all it wasn’t that hot as it was in the morning, it was summer and it was holidays. But what he saw surpassed all his expectations. It seemed like entire New York decided to crawl out of their houses and gather in one place. 

The park was full as never. Children were running, laughing cheerfully, let kites, played hide and seek and something that looked a lot like catch-up. There were a few couples that were sitting in the shades under a fluffy canopy of trees, blissfully watching the kids or talking to each other; some were slowly walking along the waterside. Some old women and men were holding hands and quietly wounding circles around the lake. Various dogs’ owners were playing with them, throwing them all sorts of dishes and balls, laughing joyfully as they watched their pet trying to catch them. The park was literally filled with life, filled with this joy, happiness. _It felt alive._  
  
Suddenly, Thomas was pulled out of his thoughts by a sudden sound of his phone, letting the brunet know about a new message. He awkwardly shifted the leash from one hand to another, hastily pulling the phone out from his front pocket, and unblocked the screen. The boy wasn’t really that surprised to see a message from Minho. 

_‘Hey fuckface, how r u? Is Chuck still alive?’ – Minho_

Thomas rolled his eyes, quickly typing his answer. 

_‘Ha ha, very funny. Oh god, I can barely hold myself_ ,’ Thomas paused, biting his lip, and then added: ‘ _I’m fine, Chuck’s even better. Apparently he’s happy to not see your arse-face for a whole day._ ’ 

It didn’t take long for Minho to answer and Thomas actually snorted at his phone. 

‘ _U lying. U just jealous_.’ The message said and the brunet already wanted to put the phone back into his pocket, when suddenly he received another text. ‘ _My parents really liked Teresa, but don’t even hope, we’ll be home in a few hours._ ’ 

All of a sudden there was a hard pull on his left arm and suddenly Thomas was falling forward, painfully landing on the ground. Immediately pain was shot through his hands and knees, and Thomas groaned, squeezes his eyes shut.For a moment he couldn’t focus on anything but his pain. _What was that? What happened?  
_

And then Thomas’ eyes snapped open. 

“Oh no,” the boy whispered as realization slowly dawn on him and he quickly stood up, his eyes immediately falling on Chuck, who with the speed of light was disappearing in an unknown direction. Thomas felt like he was suddenly doused with ice water.

“Fuck!” The boy said through clenched teeth, quickly running off after Chuck, trying to catch him. “Chuck! Oh God, Chuck! CHUCK!” Thomas shouted on the top of his lugs, hoping that the dog would hear him and stop, but all he got in return were only annoyed glazes from a few people around him. “Chuck, no, wait! WAIT!” 

For such a small and somewhat clumsy dog, he was extremely agile and strong. He was fast, much faster than Thomas, and definitely hardier than the boy as well - Chuck was out of sight literally in a matter of seconds. 

His legs hurt. His lungs were on fire. There was an unpleasant ache somewhere in his chest, that was becoming stronger with each passing second, making him choke and squeeze his eyes in pain. 

"Chuck," Thomas rasped, trying to shout, but the lack of oxygen didn’t let him let out anything louder than a whisper. The boy could tell that he was starting floundering in his own legs from all the exhaustion and he desperately wanted to stop. But he couldn’t. _He_ _couldn’t stop._

Suddenly, he couldn’t take it anymore. His legs buckled under him and for the second time this day Thomas found himself laying on the hard ground. However, this time he didn’t feel any pain, he didn’t feel anything, or rather, he didn’t even pay any attention to it. All that Thomas could think about at the moment was how literally in a matter of one second after his fall Chuck disappeared from his sight, and the brunet had no idea where to find the dog now, he had no idea where he ran. All that Thomas could think about was how Minho trusted him, and how he failed his own best friend. 

Gritting his teeth, Thomas still overcame himself and somehow got to his feet. His whole body ached from a sudden load, in his lungs lacked air. The boy put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. There was an unpleasant sting in his eyes and Thomas knew what that meant, but he couldn’t, he wasn’t supposed to cry. _Not now_. He couldn’t lose his composure, blindly diving into emotions – he needed to think and to think fast, needed to come up with something. 

Thomas’ plan turned out to be terribly banal and hardly very effective - the next 30 minutes he spent wounding circles around this stupid park, again and again shouting out Chuck’s name and talking to the passers-by, asking if they had seen his dog. It was useless, Thomas was well aware of it – the park was horribly huge and Chuck was fast, he could be literally anywhere. Thomas wasn’t even quite sure that he was still in the damn park. 

The boy suddenly stopped, nervously running his hand through his already tousled dark brown hair, as he quickly looked around once again. His voice had become hoarse from all the shouting and his body was on fire, _it was burning_ \- Thomas already could imagine how he’d regret it the next morning. If he’d, of course, make it through the night, because Minho and Teresa promised to come home soon, and it meant that all of a sudden Thomas’ life had become terribly short. He still couldn’t believe he let them down! They trusted him, and he didn’t cope with such a simple task as to look after the fucking dog. No wonder that Teresa was so objected when Thomas and Minho raised the topic for the first time. She probably knew from the very beginning how everything would end up, but yet, she agreed. And he failed her. 

Thomas sighed and sat down on the nearest bench, immediately resting his elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. The sun was beginning to slowly sit down, coloring the sky dark orange; people started to go home. Suddenly it became much colder than before, and Thomas shifted slightly, feeling goosebumps rise on his open arms. The boy was afraid to think about how Chuck was feeling right now. Alone, who knew where, probably already hungry. And scared. The mere thought about it made Thomas’ heart ache uncomfortably in his chest. He would never forgive himself. Neither would Teresa and Minho. 

Out of the corner of his eye the boy could see some movement to his left, but he didn’t pay it much attention. He didn’t care. However, this somebody kept flickering beside him, slowly, as if unsurely, approaching closer and closer, and in the end Thomas couldn’t take it anymore, turning sharply. 

"What?" The boy asked rudely, but as soon as his eyes fell on his visitor, Thomas' breath hitched and it felt like his heart also stopped beating. "Chuck!" The boy exclaimed, immediately getting up from his seat and rushing to the dog, dropping to his knees and clutching to him like there was no tomorrow. Chuck only barked happily in return. "Oh God, I was so worried! You have no idea, you have no-,"Thomas interrupted himself and buried his face in his soft wool. "Don’t even do this to me again, you heard me? _Ever!_ " 

“Oh thanks God, so I take it you’re his owner then? I was already starting to get worried about this little buddy to be honest.”  

Thomas swore under his breath, almost jumping out of his skin since he didn’t expect anyone to stand near, and then immediately frowned as he heard a laugh. The brunet swiftly looked up, already ready to say everything that he was thinking about the newcomer, but the words instantly died on his lips as his eyes fell on the boy only in a few feet away from him. His hair was blond and his eyes were the color of black chocolate - rich and dark. He was smiling at Thomas with a somewhat crooked smile that looked more like a smirk, and it made his face only look even younger, childish even. He was wearing a plain blue t-shirt, a gray windbreaker, dark shorts and sneakers. Thomas was surprised at first, his first thought was what the blond was doing at this time in the park alone, but then his eyes fell on a leash in the boy’s hand and to the shepherd dog, sitting obediently near his feet. 

This second thought though was ‘ _oh sweet Lord, have a mercy’_. 

Thomas swiftly stood up, his eyes opened wide as he continued to open and close his mouth like a goldfish, trying to come up with the right words. The boy was definitely quite amused by his behavior as his smile-smirk only became bigger.   

“Oh, um, I’m not really the owner,” Thomas finally said somewhat awkwardly, his voice still rough so he quickly cleaned his throat. The blond questioningly raised his eyebrows, his eyes intense as if he was trying to look right into Thomas’ soul. The other boy could swear that his cheeks reddened slightly under this gaze. “It’s actually my friend’s dog, he just asked me to look after him while he’s away-“ 

“Well, it didn’t really work, didn’t it?” the blond suddenly interrupted him, now fully smirking at him. Thomas couldn’t help but frown, even though the boy’s eyes were filled with mirth.  

“Well, as you can see, yes, it didn’t,” he said drily, but then quickly added: “I, uhh, never quite done this before,” the brunet said slowly, now feeling embarrassing, shyly rubbing the back of his neck. The blond smiled warmly, now looking back with sympathy. “Thomas, by the way,” the brunet said, extending his hand. “If you, uhh, if you were wondering…”  

“It’s Isaac, but you can call me Newt,” the blond – _Newt_ – nodded, shaking Thomas’ hand with unexpected strength. It seemed like Thomas’ surprise mirrored on his face because Newt looked at him with a satisfied grin. 

“Well, uhh, thank you so much for watching after Chuck,” Thomas gently patted the dog’s head. “Seriously, I have no idea what I can do in return. I mean, you just saved me from being murdered by Minho! That’s a lot, believe me,” the brunet laughed in relief, but then realized that Newt suddenly was frowning again, slightly tilting his head to the side. “Oh, it’s my friend. The dog, the dog is his,” Thomas quickly explained and Newt smiled.  

“Oh, don’t worry about it, no problem at all,” Newt laughed kindly and Thomas couldn’t help but smile back, his heart skipping a beat. “I didn’t really do anything, you know? He just appeared out of nowhere and kinda glued himself to me. So it’s not a big deal.” Thomas nodded. “At first I thought he was homeless or something, but then I saw the collar with the leash and figured out that he just ran away. So I decided to ask people, if they knew him, but unfortunately no one did. And I couldn’t really take him home with me, since, you know, it’s already hard to look after _one_ dog,” Newt laughed softly, swiftly looking down at Chuck before his eyes returned to Thomas. “Had to walk around this damn park for a billion times.” 

“Oh God, I am _so sorry_ that I caused you so much trouble,” Thomas ruffled his hair, biting his lip softly, now feeling even more awkward than before. Newt only waved his hand. 

“Nah, as I said before, don’t worry. It seems like our dogs like each other anyway,” suddenly the blond looked down and grinned, making Thomas do the same. 

Newt was right. As the boys were talking, both Chuck and the shepherd were obediently standing in front of each other, sniffing and playfully biting one another. From time to time the leashes would tense a little as the dogs tried to get closer, making Thomas squeeze his own tighter in his hand so Chuck wouldn’t have a chance to run away again. However, even this restriction didn’t prevent their pets from forgetting about both Newt and Thomas. It seemed that Chuck and the blond’s dog really found the common language. Thomas snorted, watching them intriguingly. 

“But if you really wanna thank me you can do it by going out with me for a coffee.” 

“Oh?” Thomas tore his gaze away from the dogs and turned to look back at Newt, raising his eyebrows.  

“You know, let’s say tomorrow. Near the entrance. At five. There’s a really good café in, like, 10 minutes from here. Maybe we could go there. But only if you want to, of course,” Newt bit softly on his lip and Thomas could see how his cheeks reddened slightly, but his eyes were sparkling and there still was this little smirk-smile on his lips. 

“Is it, uhh,” Thomas hesitated, “is it like a date?” 

“It can be a date if you don’t mind,” Newt laughed softly. “Can be just a ‘thank you’ dinner, whatever you want. Personally,I would prefer it to be a date though.” 

To say that Thomas was surprised was like to not say anything at all. For a few seconds it seemed like the boy simply swallowed his tongue, because suddenly he couldn’t utter a word. He just stood there with his mouth open, from time to time closing it and looking a lot like a goldfish. Thomas just couldn’t fully wrap his head around it, because Newt seemed really sweet and cute with his messy blond hair and this charming smile, even though he was definitely making fun of the whole situation, but somehow in a good, not offensive, way, only making Thomas’ heart beat a little bit faster with each laugh that the blond was letting out. And Thomas, he just looked like a complete fool from the very beginning and now he was making everything even worse by not saying anything at all, openly gapping at the boy in front of him. 

“Well?” Newt broke the silence, now somewhat nervously pulling the sleeves of his windbreaker. 

‘ _Oh my God, he’s really asking me out, isn’t he’_ , the thought flashed through Thomas' head and suddenly the boy’s face broke into a huge smile. He just wanted to have Chuck back, but apparently the date with a cute boy was a pleasant bonus. Well, he wasn’t complaining even slightly. 

“I’d really like to, actually,” he said and then added: “And I’d like it to be a date, yes.” Newt let out an easy laugh. 

“So a date then,” the blond said with a lopsided smile, taking a small step back and lightly pulling the shepherd to himself. The dog whined unhappily, but didn’t resist. “See you tomorrow, Tommy.” 

Newt smiled at him one last time, before fully turning around and walking away, but not before waving goodbye at Thomas. Another few seconds and the boy disappeared completely out of the brunet’s sign in an unknown direction. The boy sighed contently, looked down at Chuck and smirked. 

“C’mon, you bastard, I’ll take you home,” Chuck barked and Thomas laughed softly, slowly making his way toward the exit. 

All his way home Thomas couldn’t take Newt out of his mind, scrolling their dialogue through his head over and over again, quietly chuckling to himself and biting his lips. He couldn’t wait to tell his friends about it, even though he’d have to think about another explanation about why the hell Chuck was found with the blond. But even more than that Thomas couldn’t wait for the next day and his date with Newt. 

So maybe it’s true that everything that’s done is done for the better?

**Author's Note:**

> Hiiiii :)  
> I was working on this one shot for a while tbh, had this idea for a really long time actually. I guess I rewrote it 3 times? Idk  
> Still not really sure about how it all turned out, have mixed feelings and all :\  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story! Please, leave kudos/comments if you want to! Means a lot, really xx :D


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